On Monday, Business Secretary Lord Mandelson told university leaders that admission processes must do more to promote social mobility. The UK needed a 'higher education system that widens access and increases social mobility even as it fosters excellence,' he said.
Lord Mandelson added that only one in three students is now in the straight-from-school 18- to 22-year-old bracket.
Presumably, universities will respond with some effort to offer places to more mature students and those from less well-off backgrounds, particularly if they are promised more in tuition fees. But what is needed to enable these people to take up university or college places?
Surely accessible, affordable, high-quality childcare must be a major factor in allowing many to continue or resume their studies. Which is why the early findings from a new Unison survey make such dispiriting reading (see News, page 3). The list of universities and colleges shutting or planning to axe their on-site nurseries is growing fast. Ironically, some of them, such as London Metropolitan, are well known for their early childhood courses.
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